The question is not simply how much we spend on defence, but what we understand defence and security to mean, says SIMON BRIGNELL
WHEN the Feile an Phobail began 35 years ago, no-one would have imagined that it would become as successful as it has.
It was established as a direct response to the conflict. Its purpose was “to celebrate the positive side of the community, its creativity, its energy, its passion for the arts, and for sport.”
It was also to replace the yearly street violence which took place, protests against internment without trial of Catholic and nationalist men on August 9 1971.
JIM JUMP introduces two new publications that examine both sides of the Irish participation in the Spanish civil war
AARON SMITH discusses why the Protestant diaspora are still part of Yeats’s ‘Indomitable Irishry’, and an integral part of any future united Ireland.
The independent TD’s campaign has put important issues like Irish reunification and military neutrality at the heart of the political conversation, argues SEAN MacBRADAIGH



